Nefarious Heathens: The Threat of Irreligion in the German Enlightenment

Nefarious Heathens

By the end of the eighteenth century, the threat to societal order presented by heterodoxreligious systems—a threat that had, in the opinion of many men of letters, been mounting fordecades—had grown to be acute. The boundary that isolated unconventional and evenheretical ideas had become increasingly porous, and the German public sphere consequentlyappeared to be susceptible to an epidemic of irreligion that could bring about disastrousresults. Numerous self-anointed educators of humankind catered to the public interest inunorthodox religious ideas and scandalous political programs by publishing a copiousnumber of texts that disputed established verities and proffered radical suggestions for reform.This workshop will address the attempted invasion of the public sphere launched by thesenefarious heathens (to use just one of the numerous epithets employed by defenders of thestatus quo). Through presentations and discussions focusing on the theological, political, andhistorical context of this “movement,” participants will explore the real and perceiveddivisions in Enlightenment discourse and reflect on the rhetorical strategies employed byfreethinkers to impart their heretical ideas to as large an audience as possible before theirfreedom to publish was constrained.